A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a bottle of mango juice. Either something about the bottle, color, or label caught my attention, and my first instinct was to make some mango margaritas to sip on during a family gathering. The mango margaritas were really delicious, but the following day I realized that I had a lot of mango juice left over. I tried serving the juice to the kids, and they did not seem to really like the taste, as it did not have the tartness of orange juice. Instead of letting it go to waste, I decided to play one over on my kids, and make a mango sorbet.
As you probably know, I make ice cream for the kids quiet often, after all, they dream of dessert on a daily basis, I am not kidding. But sorbet is not like ice cream. Typically, sorbet is made with a sugar water or what I call a simple syrup, and it also contains a fruit juice. It is really that simple.
So I thought I would use my ice cream make and create a batch of mango sorbet, and am I glad I did. As much as the kids did not like the cup of mango juice, they were begging for additional scoops of the sorbet.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of water
- 2 cups of sugar
- 1 1/2 cups of mango juice
- 1 lemon juiced and zested
First, make the simple syrup. To a sauce pan, add the sugar and water, and bring it to a boil, stirring along the way. Once it boils, bring it to a simmer and cook until all of the sugar dissolves, roughly 5 minutes or so.
Remove the pan from the heat, and set it aside to cool to room temperature.
Add the lemon juice and zest to the simple syrup, and give it a nice stir.
Make sure your ice cream bowl is completely frozen before beginning to make the sorbet. It is always important to do that before making any ice cream, or sorbet.
Add the simple syrup and the mango juice to the bowl, and turn on the ice cream maker, stirring for about 25-30 minutes, or until the sorbet firms up.
Return the bowl to the freezer, and let the sorbet harden, roughly 30 minutes. Serve into cones, or bowls.
The results are a homemade sorbet that has the perfect texture, a great sweetness and flavor from the mango juice, and a bunch of happy people. Enjoy